View topic - Who you writing for?

Who you writing for?

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Lost_User Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 0 Status: Offline	Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 18:59 I put this question up on my blog, but thought people here might have something interesting to say on the subject: If you are a designer that has a professional website that you use to show off your work, and you blog on that site, do you write for clients or other designers? E.g. do you write, "Here's a great new CSS technique" type articles aimed at other designers, or "Here's how I could save you money" type articles aimed at potential clients? Either way do you get clients because of your articles?

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Lost_User Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 0 Status: Offline	Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 19:17 If you are trying to use your blog to gain new business, I would keep it aimed at potential clients. Write articles about how they can save money or what you need from your clients to create an effective website. Gear your blog towards things clients maybe interested in. Don't write technical articles about CSS or AJAX if your blog is aimed at clients, they don't care. Or worse they'll read about some cool new feature using AJAX and have to have it in their site even though it serves no purpose. Its like taking your car to the mechanic. I don't know how the engine works and I don't care. How long will it take to fix it, how much money will it cost me and what can I do to not break it again. Whatever new technique is being used I don't care because it is not my job.

Lost_User Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 0 Status: Offline	Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 19:19 Good question cheeZ... I do an awfully lot of authoring in here on the forum's. Mainly the search engines find this stuff, and it may offer someone/somewhere some guidance, or mis-guidance as the case may be. I don't have a blog resource of my own, or a website. I'm not sure the client's I'm used to dealing w/ would read any technical articles, but you may get what you would call sub-contracting work. It takes a bit of a sales force to find client's sometimes in a real life locality, without a web sales presence. To blog both side I think it would be appropriate to divide the blog's into Developers & Internet Marketing Basics or something for potential client's. As dBlake is suggesting, you don't even want a client to know enough to be dangerous to their own success, convincing them to trust your knowledge is the better approach for them and you.

Lost_User Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 0 Status: Offline	Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 20:48 i also had this dilemma, what i did was separate my 'blog' from the 'business/portfolio' site. its still under the same domain mind you , but i designed it entirely different so that if you go there and read some that makes no sence related to the business aspect you don't nesseccarily leave scratching your head. see climaxdesigns.com, then click on articles. goes to thoughts.climaxdesigns.com

Lost_User Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 0 Status: Offline	Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 21:50 @dblake_md - That's pretty much my thinking, keep the articles on topic for potential clients. Having said that, I'm still interested in hearing from people who do blog about design techniques on their professional sites. If I look through my daily reads I'd say 90%+ are blogs about design, by designers but written on their portfolio sites. In the World of web design there are a select few who we all look up to, but does blogging about design help them get work? (Or just book and speaking deals?) Last edited by Lost_User on Thu Feb 09, 2006 13:01; edited 2 times in total

Lost_User Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 0 Status: Offline	Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 02:45 You're maybe missing one link in the formula... Search engines love content, when the search engine brings anyone to your website, it doesn't differentiate between clients and developers & whoever... whether they can find the right channel or link when they get there is the trick. I guess I would design around the fact of channeling the reader... Developers area, client area, homage to the homies area, inspiration for aliens, off the wall...lol! What's the matter w/ a book deal, aspire to that even ;)

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